The Impact Of Feminism On Society

Cassandra Telewoda Vito Gulla English 100 05 February 2023 Annotated Bibliography: Roe v. Wade Roe v. Wade is a controversial case that was ruled by the Supreme Court in 1973, giving people the right to personal privacy and protecting their choice to keep or terminate a pregnancy. This ruling was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022, leaving the choice of abortion in the hands of the State in which an individual resides. This 2022 ruling is not only a breach of women's choice of their bodies but also detrimental to women's equality.

“it's a woman’s right to control her own destiny, to be able to make choices without the Big Brother state telling her what she and cannot do” (Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg). Women have fought for their entire lives for equal rights which for some apparent reasons have not been acknowledged. Roe vs. Wade had changed the outlook on the United States and on a woman’s rights to her own body. Roe vs. Wade goes back to 1973 which was between a women who had an unplanned surgery in Texas who wanted to make abortions legal. Norma Leah McCorvey, better known as “Jane Roe” was the plaintiff in this case, after her case the U.S Supreme Court had ruled that state laws banning abortion are unconstitutional.

January 22, 1973, was the day that a woman's rights to her body were given back to her. The U.S Supreme Court had made the final decision that making a women’s right to get an abortion illegal violated the fourteenth amendment, the right to privacy, ultimately making it a women’s legal decision to decide whether or not an abortion for them was needed. This is the trial known as Roe v. Wade. Fast forward to today, this exact trial was overturned by the supreme court justices on June 24, 2022.

Roe V Wade being overturned negatively impacts women's right to health, reproductive rights, and it implies that we are taking a step backwards in womens progression. “According to the World Health Organization, 23,000 women die of unsafe abortion each year and tens of thousands more experience significant health complications'' (The world's abortion laws). An unsafe abortion is any termination of a pregnancy by someone lacking the skills to medically terminate a pregnancy. Although an unsafe abortion is life threatening, women will continue to have unsafe abortions because of conditions without access to safe abortions such as a ban.

Roe vs. Wade is the highly publicized Supreme Court ruling that overturned a Texas interpretation of abortion law and made abortion legal in the United States. The Roe v. Wade decision held that a woman, with her doctor, has the right to choose abortion in earlier months of pregnancy without legal restriction, and with restrictions in later months, based on the right to privacy. As a result, all state laws that limited women 's access to abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy were invalidated by this particular case. State laws limiting such access during the second trimester were upheld only when the restrictions were for the purpose of protecting the health of the pregnant woman. Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in the greater United States, which was not legal at all in many states and was limited by law in others.

Roe v. Wade is the most well known case on abortion and was originally located in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, but later became a Supreme Court case. Roe’s real name was Norma Leah McCorvey, but she used a pseudonym used to protect her privacy. She wanted to terminate her pregnancy by abortion- which was illegal according to Texas law. A criminal abortion statute was first enacted in Texas in 1854, with the exception of abortion by medical advice for the purpose of saving the life of the mother. She was a single woman in Dallas, Texas and began fighting this action in 1970 against the district attorney of the county.

“On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision in Roe v. Wade, a challenge to a Texas statute that made it a crime to perform an abortion unless a woman’s life was at stake. The case had been filed by “Jane Roe,” an unmarried woman who wanted to safely and legally end her pregnancy. Siding with Roe, the court struck down the Texas law. In its ruling, the court recognized for the first time that the constitutional right to privacy “is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy” (Roe v. Wade, 1973).

The Right to Abortion On January 22, 1973, in a 7-2 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down it’s landmark decision in the case of Roe v. Wade, which recognized that the constitutional right to privacy extends to a woman’s right to make her own personal medical decisions — including the decision to have an abortion without interference from politicians (Planned Parenthood). There are many moments in history when Roe v. Wade has been so close to being overturned, yet it is still in place. Abortion should stay legal, or not overturned, for the health of women everywhere. First, this important case took place at the time of abortion being illegal in most states, including Texas, where Roe v. Wade began.

Where the second wave of feminism occurred. Women were considered second-class citizens up to that time. Three significant points to focus on are, feminist leaders at the time, modern feminists and the women protesting. How have feminist movements of the past affect women’s rights of today?

Before Roe v. wade the number of deaths from illegal abortions was around 5000 and in the 50s and 60s the number of illegal abortions ranged from 200,000 to 1.2 million per year. These illegal abortions pose major health risks to the life of the woman including damage to the bladder, intestines as well as rupturing of the uterus. The choice to become a mother must be given to the woman most importantly because it’s her body, her health, and she will be taking on a great responsibility. A woman’s choice to choose abortion should not be restricted by anyone; there are multiple reasons why abortion will be the more sensible decision for the female.

The first wave of feminism took place between the period of 1830-1920, arousing from an industrial society and liberal, socialist politics. The main concerns during this period were the enfranchisement of women and the extension of civil rights to women, particularly suffrage. There were other officially mandated inequalities as such property rights, equal rights in marriage, and positions of political power too. A new view of what women were capable of doing dawned upon when during World War I, there was a serious shortage of able-bodied men and women were required to take on men’s

Kylie Cunningham November 16, 2017 HIST-324 Paper 2 Introduction Women’s Rights Movement Second-wave feminism of the sixties and seventies made huge leaps for women’s rights and gender equality. Women once again were fighting for gender equality, but this time, the movement encompassed a much broader array of issues women face. A major goal of the movement was protection from employment discrimination. As mentioned by Nancy MacLean in her article, Gender is Powerful: The Long Reach of Feminism, “some of feminism 's greatest policy victories in the1960s and 1970s came as a result of using tools won by other movements,” (pg. 20). She expands on this by citing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, specifically, Title VII.

In 1963, Congress responded to the pressure of the 2nd Wave of Feminism by passing the Equal Pay Act, which was put in place to “prohibit discrimination on account of sex in the payment of wages”. This act, although not completely closed the wage gap, helped women earn more money for labor than they had in the past. Additionally, Title IX of the Civil Rights Act created in 1964 banned employment discrimination based on gender. This helped women face exclusion from employers who had previously barred women entrance into the workforce. As the feminists did in the 1920s, women of the 2nd Wave pressed for an equal rights amendment (ERA) that would overturn state or federal laws that discriminated against women.

For the last couple of years, americans have been deeply polarized over the issue of abortion. They debate has been cast in terms of “ pro-life” views and “pro-choice” views. The legality of abortion was confirmed in 1973 when the United States Supreme Court struck down a Texas

To what extent is feminism supported and/or criticised in Australian contemporary society, and what do you think might explain this? Feminism is a movement seeking equality in society for all men, women and transgender people. Many feminist movements focus on eliminating the oppression of women as well as pushing for women's rights and interests. Feminism has been through a number of waves, the first wave demanded women have the right to vote (week5 text).